**chapter 2**

Nobody wants Seidric to make Alyssa look good. Alyssa didn’t think she would live to see it too. She’s just counting the moments as things get dull. She just does it.

Alyssa’s will has never been accepted. Even if she disobeyed, the king and queen would not budge. Rather, it will cause more pain for her for disobeying.

‘Because you were born of low blood, you have to be taught properly.’

A lady’s handbook, which had to be copied over to the back of her hand, whip marks that never dried, taught Alyssa about the virtue of silence and obedience. Alyssa, a princess who has lived a life other than a princess. She had to protect herself in silence and to avoid being beaten she had to learn to be obedient.

It was the same this time.

Today, less than a week after Kendrick’s death, the leaves turned red, stirring people’s hearts. Alyssa became an autumn bride…

Alyssa smiled bitterly with a crushed bouquet in her hand.

Alyssa was left alone in the newlyweds’ bedroom. All she had left was this little bouquet.

Cool autumn with a cool breeze settled in the Cambridge mansion. Autumn has also arrived at the largest mansion on the outskirts of the islands, chosen by the king himself for Kendrick and Alyssa.

Wide enough to be called a small forest

The Silver Garden also started wearing scarlet-colored clothes. Squirrels with acorns crossed the tree trunk.

It was a sweeter and better autumn than ever.

The cosmos colony is reflected in the early morning sun. She could see it from this distance.

It was a beautiful scenery.

It’s such a waste to be depressed here.

“It’s okay, Alyssa. You can live well.”

Alyssa mumbled in a faint voice.

Until the morning sun rose and the morning light came, Seidric didn’t come.

It was the next morning that she heard the news of Seidric.

***

Seidric was gone.

(Ripping my hair off aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa)

As soon as he exchanged wedding rings with the bride, he drove off recklessly on a horseback, shrugging his chains.

In the Kingdom of Castor, no one was unaware that Seidric Cambridge was married today to Avery’s princess.

But is it because of compassion? Or is it because he became the husband of the princess? No-one stopped Seidric.

“It’s Seidric Cambridge. Open the door.”

It was the same with the last gate.

The iron gate to the royal cemetery that never budges under the name of the King was opened.

Seidric stepped into the cemetery after he had left his horse to the cemetery keeper. Fallen leaves blown by the soft autumn wind were wandering in the air with a rustling sound.

It couldn’t be a less lonely sight than his own.

Seidric’s gaze wandered in search of the cleanest, least traceable tombstone. A new lilac bouquet was in front of him.

The king said that he would honor the hero and gave him a funeral at the royal cemetery. However, his brother Kendrick’s grave was more desolate than anywhere else.

The marble covering the ground didn’t have a single inscription or national crest, and the tombstone just had Kendrick’s name on it. As lonely as an abandoned grave.

‘Isn’t the sky scary, Avery is…!’

The king, who took Kendrick’s life and took his remains hostage, urged Seidric to marry the princess.

What options were there? The body of his brother, who died on the battlefield under the direct order of the royal family, and Seidric could not even see his brother’s last face.

The king laughed meanly and whispered.

‘The choice is yours, Sir Seidric. It’s a problem that will all be solved if you inherit the Dukedom and marry Alyssa. Is there any reason to go round and round? This is not bad for you either,’

The invisible chain that tied his neck was vivid.

The king added, watching Seidric like a snake.

‘I am also deeply mourning the death of Kendrick. That’s why I’m trying to give you this rare opportunity.’

Condolences and opportunities. Is this the correct word used in this case? Seidric laughed. His fingers, digging into the ground, were stiff.

“Fuck Avery.”

If he had the ability, he wanted to kill the king who presented this terrible tragedy. He wanted to see the king crawling on the floor and pay for his mistakes in front of his brother’s tombstone. His heart seems to be twisting when he thinks of his brother who died unfairly and alone.

**chapter 3**

'Seidrick!’

‘Brother? What brings you here so early?’

It was Kendrick who called the laid-back Seidrick who was reading books while walking along the road-side trees. Kendrick got off the horse and wrapped his younger brother’s shoulders.

This was a very hot summer as a 15 years old.

It was a memory of the day.

Kendrick hugged the little boy and smiled brightly.

“What’s going on? Something good happened?”

“Good? Stop pretending! I heard you took the top spot at the Academy? My colleagues are going crazy right now. They say that Kendrick, an ignorant who only knows how to swing a sword, has the smartest brother in the world!”

Seidrick laughed. Kendrick, an ignorant? It was to honor Cambridge, not because he was ignorant. Without anyone knowing it, Kendrick always lowered himself and praised Seidrick highly.

“It’s reassuring to have you, Seidrick! Tell me what you want. This brother of yours will do everything for you!”Kendrick’s bright smile made Seidrick burst into laughter.

“Don’t show off!”

He was a friendly and warm person.

Kendrick was a heavenly brother to Seidrick. He seemed to be a strong support at any time, and he was the sky of Cambridge.

But his sky collapsed. Avery, who took Cambridge’s sky, will surely pay the price. In any form.

Seidrick made a firm commitment. The dirt digging through his nails awakened his mind.

“Brother, I will definitely pick you up.”

Kendrick should not be here.

He remembered his pledge to take him to the place where his Cambridge ancestors were buried.

“I will never leave you alone here.”

Kendrick’s end was sorrowful and sad that Seidrick couldn’t leave all night. The cold air of dawn could not stop him. He guarded his brother’s side like a stone and told stories he had not been able to tell.

Unfortunately, at that moment. He couldn’t think of anything about Princess Alyssa. Because Seidrick was struggling just getting through his tragedy.

***

Sasha, the maid-in-waiting who came out of the royal city with Alyssa, was the only one on Alyssa’s side. A vicious gaze could be felt everywhere in the Cambridge mansion. Shortly after staying, Alyssa noticed that the place was hostile to her.

Early in the morning, Sasha was the only one who came to attend Alyssa, who woke up alone.

“Did you sleep well?”

Sasha has spoken affectionately, knowing that Alyssa couldn’t even sleep a wink while sitting and waiting for Seidrick. She just doesn’t know what to say.

“Well… yes.”

Alyssa gave an obvious lie. With red-blooded eyes, calmly.

Sasha looked up with a sad face and removed the makeup from her pale face. Sasha stipped her on behalf of the groom.

She doesn’t know why the rustling sound is so heartbreaking.

“Milady…”

“Did you eat?”

The morning of the attending people is rather on the earlier side. Sasha nodded with a sad sigh.

“Yes.”

“Do the people treat you well?”

“…Yes.”

Sasha is not unaware of the cold gazes on her, but to reassure her master, she put a lie in her mouth. She didn’t want to upset Alyssa, who already had her head lowered with her small shoulders.

“I see.”

When Alyssa was moderately convinced and let herself be fooled by Sasha’s words, the bedroom door opened. The ladies who poured in were those who worked for a long time in the Cambridge mansion. Therefore, they must know about etiquette.

Nevertheless, the maids who came in without being polite to Alyssa began to clean up their bedrooms.

“What are you doing now? You have to be polite to Milady!”

Sasha rebelled.

“Excuse me?”

A maid snorted. The maid who was removing the blankets from the bed Alyssa was sitting in, sighed with her hands down.

“The courtesy should have been done by Her Majesty the Princess first. You haven’t done any courtesy for the deceased.”

“It’s not Milady’s fault…!”

“That’s enough, Sasha.”

Alyssa stopped Sasha from speaking.

“Continue with your work. I’m fine.”

“… Her Majesty seems to be at ease in mind and body. Our duke was in front of his dead brother’s grave the whole night.”

Alyssa’s pupils dilate.

After yesterday’s wedding was over, he hastily disappeared. After becoming the princess’s husband, she couldn’t figure out what’s inside of Seidrick’s heart , who was able to stand in front of his brother’s grave.

**chapter 4**

Alyssa sighed.

“Is he still there?”

The maid shed a contemptuous gaze at Alyssa.

“I guess you’re curious about that now. The Duke will be back soon. Oh, why isn’t this working.”

The maid murmured annoyingly, rolled up the bedspread and disappeared through the open door. Alyssa laughed awkwardly.She can’t believe it. It’s the first time she will see her husband’s face.

Alyssa was never allowed to enter the social world because she was an illegitimate child. She was born under the empress’s insistence that only with thorough and intensive etiquette education she will be able to hide the blood of the gypsy, and she has lived under strict control until now.

Alyssa’s transparent gaze examined the faces of the maids.

Like the castle, there seemed to be no one on Alyssa’s side here.

Sasha glared at the maids and hugged her shoulders.

“Milady didn’t know. I don’t know where the duke went, so how will you know.”

Alyssa bit her lips.

Is it right for them to go together? Is it a place to go with Avery’s blood running on her veins? Is she worthy to pay her respects to Kendrick, who died at a young age?

Alyssa raised herself awkwardly, with Sasha’s help.

Cold gazes caught behind them as they walked to the bathroom.

Alyssa and Sasha were also strangers here.

Alyssa was not even given time to eat comfortably.

In the dining room where the dark clouds fell, nothing was heard except for the rattling of dishes.

Alyssa continued to eat. With a gaze full of malice and hostility, she could hardly chew and swallow food.

The gaze of Ophelia, Cambridge’s only young girl staring at Alyssa, seemed to sting her face.

“Can I get the meal? Brother Seidrick is now…”

“Ophelia!”

“Why, mother? Did I say something I shouldn’t have? Why do we….”

“Ophelia, stop.”

Ophelia’s face turned red. She rolled her feet with a face that seemed to burst into tears at any moment. Then, Mrs. Juliana looked at her daughter with a stern gaze. Mrs. Juliana looked back at Alyssa with a smile on her face.

However, unlike a smile of light kindness, there was no smile in her eyes. Alyssa noticed that Mrs. Juliana’s smile was really nothing but a fake.

“Can I call you Alyssa now? We’re a family member.”

“Yes, Mother.”

“Ha, she said mother.”

Ophelia mutters and slaps the spoon on the table! She put it down loudly, then got up and left the dining room. As if she didn’t want to be in the same space with Alyssa anymore.

Mrs. Juliana couldn’t stop Ophelia and gave her an awkward smile.

“It’ll be okay. Ophelia especially followed Kendrick a lot. She said she was going to marry her brother…”

“I…”

“I know it’s not Alyssa’s fault.”

Contrary to the words spoken, Mrs. Juliana was smiling like a lifeless paper doll without a slight warmth.

“Thank you, mother. I’m fine. Really.”

The only thing Alyssa could say right now was this. It’s not Alyssa’s fault, but it’s certainly the fault of Avery’s royal family who lived with her as a family.

Avery’s royal family wouldn’t be destroyed by this mistake, but the Cambridge family was upset to its roots.

Kendrick ended the 30-year Alp War with a victory and raised Cambridge’s reputation high above the sky. The king, who was jealous of Kendrick, was rather delighted when he died.

Alyssa couldn’t ignore their anger right now because she saw the king laughing in front of her eyes.

‘I guess I am a sinner too.’

This marriage, which she thought was a new beginning, may be more hell than a thorny road.

Hell is like a prison where you have to live as a sinner for life.

***

Seidrick returned as a coldly frozen body in the morning near noon. He didn’t catch a cold because of his physical strength and immunity, but just in case, Leons recommended him a hot bath.

Leons was a butler who had worked in Cambridge even before Seidrick was born, so he was used to him.

Seidrick exhaled a long breath, leaning against the hand of the butler who gently massaged his neck. The cold air that had accumulated on his body seems to be flying away.